T-Mobile Rolling Out 600 MHz Low-Band Wireless (yahoo.com)

s122604 quotes a report from Yahoo Finance: T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. national wireless operator, has decided to roll out 600 MHz wireless spectrum in its footprints by this summer. Low-band spectrum is essential for wireless operators as the signals can be transmitted over longer distances and through brick-and-mortar walls in cities. Smartphones for this radio frequency are likely to be made available by Samsung and other manufacturers this summer.

Comments

Re:Am I gonna need a new phone

[EvilSS]

to get the benefit of this?

Read the summary to find out

Too bad its a finance story, and not a tech story

[The Cisco Kid]

and contains no concrete details at all.

Google Fi support?

[Guppy]

I'd be interested to know if MVNOs / GoogleFi will get access to this new 600MHz spectrum, once the phone support rolls out.

Re:Since when is T-Mobile the largest US carrier

[sexconker]

Since when is T-Mobile the largest US carrier

Uh...

T-Mobile, the third largest U.S. national wireless operator

Re:first cap

[Khyber]

It won't. You'll still be in a 20MHz slice of bandwidth. You'll eat it up just as quickly and they'l likely charge you more to recoup costs since this is new spectrum and this requires new radios and new phones.

Re:More RF spectrum in private hands

[RubberDogBone]

It's more accurate to say it is in their trust. The frequencies belong to the United States government. They are effectively being leased and licensed to carriers like T-Mobile. Their use of the frequencies depends on keeping the licenses.

It is the same for TV and radio: the stations have a license to use their assigned frequency but they don't actually own it, and can have their license revoked if there is reason to do so.

Cablecos love it; destroy OTA TV 1 bit at a time

[knorthern knight]

First they took away UHF channels 70-83 (800 mhz band)

Then they took away UHF channels 52-69 (700 mhz band)

Now they're taking away UHF channels 36-51 (600 mhz band)